Daily Current Affairs – 23rd November 2014

Today’s observed as Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan. It takes place annually and a national holiday. The law establishing the holiday cites it as an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks; formerly a harvest festival. Events are held throughout Japan, one such being the Nagano Labor Festival. The event encourages thinking about the environment, peace and human rights.

Today’s observed as Saint George’s Day in Georgia. It is the feast day of Saint George and the National Day for England, although it is not an official national holiday in England. It is celebrated by various Christian churches and by the several nations, kingdoms, countries, and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint. Saint George’s Day is celebrated on 23 April, 24 April, 6 May and 23 November the traditionally accepted date of Saint George’s death in 303 AD. Countries that celebrate St George’s Day include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, England, Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. Cities include Genoa in Italy, Beirut in Lebanon, Qormi and Victoria in Malta, Moscow in Russia, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and many others. It is also celebrated in the old Crown of Aragon in Spain — Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Majorca.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India did not rule out a bilateral meeting between with Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the SAARC summit, in a keen to have meaningful dialogues with as many south Asian leaders as possible.

Raipur’s Swami Vivekananda Airport has been ranked ‘first’ in customer satisfaction among the 10 best non-metro airports in the country by atest report of the customer satisfaction survey (CSS) which was conducted by a Delhi based agency Functioning under the Airport Authority of India (AAI), the airport was inaugurated in 2012 and has scored 4.75 out of 5 which brought it to the top of the list.

A top American think tank report said that Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear weapons programme in the world and by 2020 it could have enough fissile material to produce more than 200 nuclear devices. He is developing 11 delivery systems for its nuclear warheads, including aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Smriti Irani, human resource development (HRD) minister dismissed charges that education was being saffronized even as she turned down demands that Sanskrit be made compulsory in the curriculum. She said teaching of German under an MoU signed in 2011 had been in violation of the Constitution.

Maharashtra Government set up an all-party committee to review the issue of Maratha and Muslim reservations. The appointment of committee came to Bombay High Court stayed 16 percent reservation to Maratha community and 5 percent to Muslims in education and jobs headed by state Education Minister, Vinod Tawde will study the court order thoroughly and point out discrepancies.

Time Magazine on 20 November 2014 released list of 25 Best Inventions 2014.

3-D-Printed Everything- 3-D printer devices that can build objects from digital blueprints, usually by layering plastic or other materials.

A Reactor that Could Realize Nuclear Fusion – nuclear fusion reactors small enough to fit on the back of a truck and the design uses magnetic mirror confinement to control the reaction.

Action Figures that Empower Girls- I am elemental is women figures designed and commissioned to build series of action figures, meant to portray women as heroes with strong personalities. Each figure embodies a different element of heroism, like persistence or honesty

The Real-Life Hoverboard– a type of skateboard that levitates like a magic carpet

The Supersmart Spacecraft– Mangalyaan went into orbit around the Red Planet by ISRO of India

The Smartphone that Puts Privacy First- Software that encrypts calls, texts and browsing history at levels far beyond normal smartphones.

The Cooler that Powers Your Party- world’s smartest all-purpose party cooler which stores food and drinks. It also touts a blender, an LED lid light, a USB charger, a Bluetooth speaker and big wheels designed to navigate many terrains.

The Chip that Stops Your Slouching- Lumo Lift is a chip like gadget can be inserted in their shirt, it analyzes neck and spinal positions and vibrates when they’re less than ideal position.

The Car that Makes Electric Enticing- BMW i3- it drives 70 to 110 miles (113 to 177 km) on a single three-hour charge, its novel design allows drivers to use a single ­pedal to both accelerate and brake which is a more energy-efficient driving

The Tablet that Replaces Laptops– Microsoft Surface Pro 3- Microsoft’s latest hybrid bundles the power of a laptop into a svelte 12-in. tablet and can run desktop apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint

The Wheel that Gives Bikers a Boost– Copenhagen Wheel is a standard-size wheel which can be attached to the back of most bicycles—that boasts a rechargeable, battery-powered motor

The Seamless Sign-Language Translator– MotionSavvy uni is a tablet and attachment that leverages motion-sensing cameras and voice recognition to translate American Sign Language into spoken words—and spoken words into text—in real time for deaf people

The Filter that Fights Ebola- Hemopurifier is a specially designed cartridge that attaches to a dialysis machine, can tip the balance back in the body’s favour: its lectin filter attracts Ebola viruses and sucks them from the blood as it flows through.

The Selfie Stick- the selfie stick enables users to position their smartphone beyond arms’ reach to get better photo angles

The AC that Lowers Your Energy Bills- Quirky + GE aros is a provocative departure from the familiar window unit. For one thing, it’s elegant, with a sleek white exterior that’s almost Apple-esque.

The Prison Room that Helps Inmates Relax- Blue Room is an exercise space where a projector plays video of open deserts, streaming waterfalls and other outdoor scenes

The Tablet Toy that Gets Physical– Osmo is a virtual play and its reflective AI attachment enables the iPad camera to interpret physical objects—allowing kids to mimic an onscreen pattern with colored tiles, for example, and get rewarded for doing it correctly

The Coaching Basketball– 94fifty smart sensor comes embedded with nine sensors and a Bluetooth chip that sends performance data to a mobile app—allowing players to measure, say, the arc of their jumpshot

Watches that Redefine Smart– Apple’s Watch reimagines the computer for the wrist, using a novel interface that combines a touch screen and physical buttons

Wireless Electricity– Witricity is a technology that involves a plug-in coil that creates a magnetic field, which in turn powers objects as far away as 8 feet.

Wrappers You Can Eat– Wikipearls is a paired shell is made of particles of dried fruit or other natural substances that are tiny enough to be electrically attracted to one another; they are combined with calcium and sugar to strengthen the form.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Committee adopted a resolution condemning North Korea human rights abuses and referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) with 111 accepted votes, 19 rejected and 55 abstentions. The resolution will go to the full UN General Assembly for formal approval in December 2014.

A 250kg British bomb from World War II was found and at the time of being diffused, Three thousand people were evacuated from their homes in the centre of the French citof Rennes in town hall during the building of a new metro line in the capital of the Brittany region of western France. Police evacuated all homes and businesses within 270 metres (300 yards) of the scene just before 9am (1330 IST), including a fire station and 90 residents of a home for the elderly.

British Transport Police said Charing Cross, one of London’s busiest railway station was a scene of confusion after a fire from suspected electrical fault in one of the train’s front carriage led to express evacuation. The incident generated a huge traffic on social media with pictures from the scene spreading like wild fire over the networking sites. The reason behind such explosive levels of interest was partly due to Britain raising its terrorism alert to the second highest level in August, adding that the Islamist militants operating in Syria and Iraq posed the gravest security threat. Pictures from the scene showed part of a stationary passenger train on fire with a crowd looking on.

Former Indian cricket captain Dilip Vengsarkar was honoured with Colonel C K Nayudu Lifetime achievement award. He received cheque of Rs 25 Lakh among a citation and trophy. The 58-year-old Vengsarkar who was a member of the Indian team that won the World Cup in 1983 and also a member of the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 and led India in ten Tests in 1987-89.

Indian medium-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar received Polly Umrigar award and a cheque of Rs 5 lakh whereas a special award was conferred to Rohit Sharma for a world record of 264 runs in the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka in the recent series.

Parvez Rasool received the Lala Amarnath Award for the Best All-Rounder in this season’s Ranji Trophy.

R. Vinay Kumar was awarded for his all-round performance in domestic limited-overs competitions.